


Aurora ad ouroboros

by ArwenHermione



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Curses, F/M, Gen, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Healer Draco Malfoy, Healer Hermione Granger, Not Epilogue Compliant, Researcher Draco Malfoy, St Mungo's Hospital, magical healing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24824524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwenHermione/pseuds/ArwenHermione
Summary: Both Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy are Healers in training at St. Mungo's. They are both completing their residencies, but in different specializations. Draco Malfoy has chosen the field of "Dark Arts damage", and Hermione's field is "Gender and creature medicine". What they don't know at the beginning (but will soon discover) is that their fields are actually overlapping, and it will require them to work together much more closely than they have until now.Can two of the brightest minds of their generation come up with a solution to a new magical malady that's plaguing wizarding Britain? Come in and find out!
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Kudos: 8





	Aurora ad ouroboros

**Author's Note:**

> If you're looking for a fic with a regular update schedule, this is not your story. It is my first attempt at writing something a bit longer, and unfortunately, that means I can't guarantee regular updates. If, on the other hand, you are OK with irregular updates and would be open to helping a writer develop their craft, please stick around!
> 
> For now, I'd rate this fic as a Teen-and-up, and veering more towards a Gen (with an eventual F/M), but this may change as the story progresses. Relationships, characters, and tags will be updated as the story progresses.

Draco was tired. No, exhausted, really. No one had told him about the 24-hour-long shifts trainee healers went through as part of their training. Well, maybe that wasn't quite fair, because he was sure that someone mentioned it… he just hadn't cared enough to really store the information. That didn't change the fact that he was bone-tired and could barely stand up straight.  _ Only a few more hours to go _ , he thought to himself,  _ and then I can go home to sleep _ . He really, really wanted sleep. Preferably sleep that was not interrupted by strange, unsettling dreams. He allowed his mind to drift for a little bit as he sat at the table in the staff room, his hands wrapped around a cup of the swill they called coffee. He didn't even notice as his head fell forward until his chin touched his chest and his eyes closed.

***

The door to the staff room slammed against the wall with a bang at the same time his magical pager began buzzing against his hip. Draco sat up with a start and accidentally tipped his mug of coffee over. Luckily, the coffee was cold, but it still meant that he had a very unfortunate wet spot on his scrubs. He turned around, disoriented for a moment before he heard the PA system on repeat: "Code blue in room 107. Code blue in room 107." 

He rubbed his hand over his face in an attempt to at least appear awake. "... Granger. Oh, sorry… Healer Granger," he added quickly before she could start another lecture on proper forms of address. He checked his pager to see that it was likewise calling him to room 107.

"Let's go, Healer Malfoy. Did you not hear the Code Blue just now?" Hermione gave him the once over.  _ He looks exhausted.  _ She attempted to suppress the sympathy she could feel rising up.  _ No. We've all gone through this. _ "Someone was brought in with what appears to be severe magical poisoning." She briefly gave him a sympathetic look before turning back into her cool, composed Healer persona. "You know you will have to do better to successfully complete this rotation, you know that, right?" She tried not to sound too harsh, but it was important that Healers understood the importance of procedures and systems. 

Draco had moved towards the door before she'd finished her sentence. "Yes, yes, I know. Procedures. Let's go!" And out the door he went, continuing to talk to Hermione, automatically assuming that she would follow. "Magical poisoning, you said? Do we have any further information?" Gone was the bleary-eyed, sleepy Draco, only to be replaced by this determined, no-nonsense persona.

Hermione rattled off what little information had been available before she'd gone to find Draco. "Yes. A young woman was brought into the emergency room, her body covered in strange markings and apparently mumbling some unintelligible language. The only thing they were able to get out of her so far that made any sense is something they think sounds like 'ouroboros'."

Draco suddenly came to a complete stop, causing Hermione to slam into him from behind. "What did you say?" He turned around and gave Hermione a strange, slightly green-around-the-gills look.  _ Surely it couldn't be. He must've heard her wrong! _ He waited for Hermione to correct herself, which she, of course, didn't do. 

"From what I understand, she's been mumbling 'ouroboros'. It supposedly refers to--"

"A snake," Draco finished Hermione's sentence, causing her to give him a curious look with her head tilted sideways.  _ Haven't seen that look in a good long while _ , Draco almost chuckled to himself before smirking slightly at Hermione.

"Yes, actually. Well, almost, because, of course, an ouroboros isn't just any snake. It's a snake eating its own tail, which has long been connected to alchemy and rebirth." Hermione still had the tendency to engage in stream-of-consciousness talking, which in her case often meant explaining all she knew about a topic. Normally, Draco would've gotten some amusement from letting her ramble on, but he didn't think now was the time.

"Right. Except, I knew that, of course, so why don't we go take a look for ourselves," he said calmly and politely, only to notice the tell-tale flush of embarrassment appear just above Hermione's collar. She managed a squeaked "Sorry" before they continued to room 107. 

*** 24 hours before, at Malfoy Manor's Library ***

The frustration was getting to him. He knew it was probably the result of not sleeping enough as well as the frequent roadblocks popping up in his research. Even so, it didn't stop him from slamming the most recently checked volume closed and chucking it across the library. No sooner had the book landed did he hear his father's voice chiding him about the proper way to treat precious books. He slid his chair backward, causing it to scrape over the marble floor… which prompted his mother's voice in his head about proper manners. He picked up the book and moved to put it back on the shelves.  _ Another possibility eliminated _ , he thought a little dejectedly. He allowed himself to be briefly lost in memories of the past.

_ After the dust of the war had settled, and he'd been allowed to finish his education instead of being sent to Azkaban, Draco spent a lot of time thinking about options for his future. He quickly discovered he had no interest in becoming an Auror, or even following in the footsteps of previous generations of Malfoys.  _

_ He didn't really have a lot of people to talk to: most of the survivors had difficulties separating him from his father, and besides, any of the people that he'd known growing up were either not the kind of role models he wanted… or they were locked up in Azkaban. So he spent countless hours in the library of all places, reading books about famous witches and wizards. That's when he finally got the idea to become a healer. And not just any healer! He would specialize in healing damages caused by the Dark Arts. He would take all of his experiences, everything he had seen… and he would make sure it could never happen again. He would make sure there would be potions, enchantments, treatments. So he'd worked on obtaining all the NEWTs he needed to become a healer, he'd applied for further education in the healing arts, and finally, after years of study, finally managed to secure a residency at St. Mungo's. _

_ In his spare time - what little there was of it - he studied the Dark Arts. Not to become a master of them, but to understand how to dismantle them. He studied textbooks, read journals, talked - where possible - to people who survived being subjected to them. It hadn't been easy, convincing some of those survivors to talk to him, the son of a known Death Eater. But he had listened, and he had made notes. Where possible, he attempted to reassure those survivors. And finally, he had started to make progress. First, with minor curses and recent survivors. Slowly, ideas for a more universal therapy started to form, but it needed to be tested. So he submitted anonymous proposals to hospitals abroad, who'd soon started to report success with revolutionary treatments. That's when he started to dig deeper, which led him to the discovery of the double-headed snake, the ouroboros. Which was where he was currently stuck. _

***At the same time, in Hermione Granger's flat***

Hermione woke up from a deep sleep with a start. She sat up in bed, gasping for breath as she tried to get her heartbeat to slow down. For the second time in as many days, she'd woken up like this, as a result of a very vivid, but very unsettling dream. It wasn't that she had never had an unsettling dream before, or that she'd never dealt with interrupted sleep, it's just that there was something different about these particular dreams that left her feeling very uncomfortable and twitchy.

The period just after the way had seen her diagnosed with both a relatively serious case of malnourishment, as well as a magical form of PTSD, so she was definitely no stranger to challenging situations and disturbing dreams. But these dreams were different. Not that they were ominous, but it felt like they were no ordinary dreams. Almost as if she was meant to do something with them. 

Of course, rational Hermione was quick to dismiss this kind of near-Divination type of nonsense. Dreams were not predictive, and they were nothing more than your brain processing all the things it had seen and experienced recently. Sitting up in bed, her heartrate now back to normal, Hermione shook her head and scoffed at herself.  _ You must've simply seen a snake somewhere, there's absolutely no other reason for them to show up in your sleep.  _

Hermione looked at the time on her bedside alarm and figured she might as well get up and start her day.  _ Another 24-hour shift in the hospital… _ She sighed, knowing that it meant fast-paced action and little sleep. She also knew that it meant the odds were better than even that she'd be sharing some of her shift with Draco Malfoy… again. 

Sure, they'd put most of their mutual animosity behind them after the way, and she'd even helped him with his research into medical treatments of the Dark Arts, but to say that they were friends was pushing it. Of course, they'd had their moments, but those tended to be few, far between, and almost always happening towards the end of one of their 24-hour shifts. 

*** Back to present-day***

Hermione and Draco swiftly moved to room 107, and out of habit, Draco let Hermione go first. She did give him a curious glance as if it still surprised her when he did this. The situation was quickly forgotten as they were both confronted with a young witch, writhing on a gurney as if in tremendous amounts of pain. The only sound coming out of her was - indeed - a mangled form of 'ouroboros'. The minute Hermione stepped closer to the patient, it became clear that this wasn't the only symptom: spread out over her body - at least those parts that were visible - were writing, twisting sets of snakes, biting their own tails. Hermione gasped softly, as this was the figure that had been haunting her dreams. It earned her a sharp look from Draco, who had by now also observed the symbols covering the witch's skin. He pulled Hermione to the side and whispered urgently "Why does this surprise you so much?"


End file.
